(Click to listen to the Chardon Polka Band perform live in the Stelzenplatz Biergarten at Wurstfest)

(Click to watch a first-person view of the festival)

NEW BRAUNFELS- Sprechen sie fun? Hint: say yes!

Don’t worry, you needn’t speak German to enjoy the revelry of Wurstfest, the 10-day salute to sausage.

But if you really want to delve into the culture that makes up this Oktoberfest- inspired event, knowing a few phrases will help you to fit in among the lederhosen clad festival-goers.

The small town of New Braunfels, Texas welcomes over 100,000 visitors to the festival each November.

The smell of kartoffelpuffer (potato pancakes), strudel, schnitzel, and other dishes you may have a hard time pronouncing, waft throughout the tents of the festival grounds.

For people like Sammi Guerrero, Wurstfest is an annual family tradition.

“I have been going every year since I was born,” says Guerrero. “My whole family goes at least three days out of the ten days it is held each year.”

Guerrero’s 21-year streak (or 22 if you count the time she was still in her mother’s belly) is nothing compared to her father, Roland, who has been going every year since the early 1970’s.

Roland’s father, Larry Guerrero, has been joining the family for as long as he can remember. Larry may use a walker but the minute Grammy Award-winning polka artist Jimmy Sturr and his Orchestra start playing, Guerrero can’t help but get up and dance.

“Everyone loves my grandpa and when they see him dancing, they can’t help but join,” says Sammi Guerrero. “I love getting to come with him each year and watch him make people smile.”

One of the Guerrero’s favorite parts of the festival is sharing a pitcher of German lager. Roland recounts when a pitcher of beer was a dollar compared to the now almost 30 dollar pitchers being sold.

While grandpa dances to the polka music, the rest of the family heads to the biergarten, part of the newly renovated Stelzenplatz hall.

With more than 30 craft beers from all over the nation and a few specialty German beers, Wurstfest is known for drinking.

Welcome to Wurstfest! Do you speak fun? A diverse crowd enters the fairgrounds to enjoy a day filled with sausage, music, and a variety of other entertainment. Photo by: Erin MacInerney

All of the drink stands at Wurstfest are stocked with cups so that festivalgoers can share their pitchers of beer – or have an easier time keeping it all to themselves. Photo by: Erin Griffin

Festivalgoers watch the Chardon Polka Band perform at the Biergarten in the Stelzenplatz. Photo by: Erin Griffin

The Chardon Polka Band captivates the crowd by encouraging them to sing along to familiar songs. Jake Kouwe, the lead singer of the band, started to play the accordion at age fourteen.

Gator the Clown stops to pose for a picture with some kids while parents snap photos. Gator can be seen roaming around the festival sporting a smile and cracking jokes. Photo by: Erin Griffin

There is a lot of commotion and excitement in the Das Grosse Tent (big tent) on weekend nights. Festivalgoers mingle and interact with one another creating an inviting environment. Photo by: Erin MacInerney

On Saturday night, a group of friends built a beer pitcher tower in the Das Grosse Zelt (big tent). A crowd formed to see how high the tower would stack. Photo by: Erin MacInerney

Wurstfest offers many different kinds of domestic, imported and craft beers for purchase. A pitcher of Shiner Oktoberfest and pitcher of Coors Light are shown here. Photo by: Erin MacInerney

Simon Esteva dances and cheers along with his friends to the “Ein Prosit” song in the Das Grosse Tent (big tent) Saturday Night. Photo by: Erin MacInerney

A volunteer at the New Braunfels Rotary Club booth prepares potato pancakes for a growing line of hungry costumers. This vendor is one of the most popular – and encourages its costumers to add applesauce to go along with their wurst and pancakes. Photo by: Erin MacInerney

Here is a close look at the New Braunfels Rotary Club’s potato pancakes, wurst, and applesauce. It tasted delicious. Photo by: Erin MacInerney

The Wurstfest Orquestra plays in the Wursthalle and invites people to polka dance along to their music. Photo by: Erin MacInerney

A volunteer serves a pitcher of beer at one of the drink booths in the Wursthalle. This particular bar offers beer as well as wine and soft drinks. Photo by: Erin MacInerney

Steve Schulz (OPA) and Don Brawner (Kleine OPA) are part of the Wurstfest Organization and volunteer at the yearly festival. Their different color vests signify their ranking in the organization. Photo by: Erin MacInerney

The merry go round is a popular attraction for children at Wurstfest’s carnival. At night the lights of all the attractions create a pretty glow and add to the fun atmosphere of the festival. Photo by: Erin MacInerney

In the Marktplatz there are 36 vendors with different types of wurst (German sausage). Wurst is commonly served on a stick with bread rolls attached to the bottom. Photo by: Erin Griffin

Another popular food item in the Marktplatz are the turkey legs. Eager festivalgoers stand in long lines in order to enjoy this treat. Photo by: Erin MacInerney

A polka band called 3rd Generation performs Sunday evening in the Das Kleine Zelt (Little Tent). Many couples and families dance around to end their evening on a happy note. Photo by: Erin MacInerney

A couple stops at the hat vendor in the Marktplatz to purchase a silly hat. Many festivalgoers can be seen wearing silly hats with themes ranging from drunken chickens to Vikings. Photo by: Erin MacInerney

A man watching the Chardon Polka Band is seen sporting a tyrolean hat, a traditional Bavarian piece that is normally paired with lederhosen. Photo by: Erin Griffin

A vendor in the Marktplatz sells collectible beer steins. The booth has over 200 unique and authentic steins made of different kinds of stoneware. Photo by: Erin MacInerney

The Das Grosse Zelt in the evening is full of movement and excitement. This Sunday evening the crowd is waiting for the next polka band to start performing. Photo by: Erin MacInerney

Guests make it a point to collect as many plastic beer pitchers as they can down, and that crashing sound you just heard? It was a pyramid of pitchers stacked up falling to the ground, a common sight among the beer hall.

Despite the vast alcohol consumption, Wurstfest Associations members make sure that the fest is centered around good family fun.

Another important part of the festival are the traditional German clothes, lederhosen worn by men and dirndl’s worn by women.

“A lot of people want to be dressed up for the event,” says Paula Kater, owner of the Kuckuck’s Nest in Fredericksburg, Texas. “Every year, sales pick up and people want to get more and more into it. Even the younger generations want to dress up.”

Kater emphasizes that the outfits she dresses her customers in are not costumes, but authentic clothing of her heritage.

“Every one is an original straight from Germany,” says Kater.

Kater was impressed to find such a large German influence in the Texas Hill Country when she arrived here from Ludwigshafen, Germany 15 years ago.

She travels all over the nation providing outfits for people attending Okterberfest events but says Wurstfest has always been her favorite.

“Wurstfest is one of the biggest,” says Kater. “It is the elite of all of them, even the ones up north.”

(A supplementary video from Wurstfest. How to sing one of the favorite songs, Ein Prosit!)

Arts education has been declining for more than three decades because of tight budget cuts and a common misconception that the arts are beautiful, but not vital to the core curriculum.

Extensive research shows that music education correlates to almost everything we want for children’s cognitive development and demand from our school system: academic achievement and social and emotional growth.

Dylan Jones founded Anthropos Arts in 1998 with a similar idea in mind. The program provides high-quality music education for low-income students. With the help of professional musicians from diverse music genres, Jones is able to give free music lessons to students.

“One of the biggest things for musicians is seeing kids perform and reliving their moments of musical discovery. We get to watch kids to relive those first moments, it’s like a milestone,” Jones says. “Students in poverty face more barriers than most students. We give them a safe haven and something intellectually challenging.”

Seventeen years later, Not only do students get instruction from professional musicians—some even Grammy-winning artists—the students perform at well-known music venues, and events like ACL Festival, SXSW, Shady Grove, Stubb’s, and more.

Aside from musical exposure, students are learning valuable life lessons that prepare them for college and the real world. Involvement in the arts is associated with gains in math, reading, cognitive ability, critical thinking, and verbal skill. It can also improve motivation, concentration, confidence, and teamwork.

Andres Rios, 18, performing at the Pecan Street Festival.

Andres Rios, an 18-year-old graduating senior in the program feels he has grown immensely from his time at Anthropos.

“When I started Anthropos Arts I had a lot of anxiety with playing in front of people and being in front of a crowd in general. This program taught me how to stay in control and keep comfortable in those types of environments. I feel that music benefited me by making me more creative and expressive in the classroom. It even helped with my public speaking because of my experience of being in front of crowds.”

Carla Pantoja, a 19-year-old graduate from Anthropos reflects on her positive exposure from the arts program.

“I don’t know where I would be if I didn’t play music. I don’t think I would be in college or would have graduated from high school.”

When Jones first started the charity, he didn’t realize what the outcome results would be.

“Now we’ve done it and I’m in year 17 and it works. I encourage people to support. Like these schools, we’re underfunded and need money to help bring these resources to these kids—and it’s a no brainer, we have one of the biggest music scenes here in the world. And we have tons of kids and its absolutely crucial to their development.”

Over the past five years, 100% of their senior students have graduated from high school, and more than 80% enrolled in college on scholarships. There are currently 150 kids on 18 campuses and will have around 20 concerts this year.

More than 100 LGBTQIA musicians, artists, drag performers and comedians from around the world took the stage for the inaugural Stargayzer Festival on Sept. 12-14 at Pine Street Station.

Zahira Gutierrez of Houston band Wild Moccasins sings during their Saturday set. Photo by Alex Vickery

Despite the rainy weather, Austinites of all ages and orientations turned out to support the diverse range of talent within the queer community.

“We’ve got comedians and drag and performance art and we even have yoga and visual artists,” festival organizer Brett Hornsby said. “I think a lot of other pride events just kind of focus on one area alone, and so we just wanted to be as diverse as we could and show the broad spectrum that is being offered.”

Stargayzer has been years in the making, Hornsby said. Over the last five years, he was inspired by the diverse range of queer artists he met while touring with performer Christeene Vale.

“I think by [touring] I discovered how much incredible queer talent there is all over the world and how it’s kind of being overlooked,” Hornsby said. “I wanted to bring everyone together and make something that’s focused just on that.”

Two festivalgoers skip around puddles after the rain clears at Stargayzer Festival at Pine Street Station. Photo by Alex Vickery

Scheduling Stargayzer for the weekend before Austin Pride Week wasn’t intentional, Hornsby said, but it was good timing. The weather, though, was less than ideal, as rain soaked the festival grounds all day Friday and part of Saturday.

“I like how we have rain. We never have rain in Austin,” Havemeyer said. “The grass is growing and the ants are crawling.”

Tamara Hoover and Maggie Lea, co-owners of queer-friendly bar Cheer Up Charlie’s, said that Hornsby came to them with the idea for Stargayzer about six months ago. They jumped at the opportunity to see the Cheer Up community in a different element and location.

“Overall, this community has come out no matter what weather parameters they were given,” Hoover said. “It’s been a really awesome display of how supportive our Austin community is for each other.”

Lea agreed, adding that many festivalgoers didn’t just come for the headliners, but to support the lesser-known local bands and the Austin queer community as a whole.

When Hornsby began booking for the festival, he started with the better-known artists. He ended up getting so many submissions that he had to start turning people down.

“We discovered, on top of everything else, how much crazy stuff was out there, so going through it was really fun,” Hornsby said. “People are like, ‘Oh, you booked all the gay artists in the world!’ But that’s not true at all. There’s so many more.”

Regina The Gentlelady and her band Light Fires traveled all the way from Toronto for the festival. They played pride festivals before, but were attracted to Stargayzer because of the quality and diversity of the talent.

“It’s just a nice showcase of queer talent, and a really broad range of things,” she said. “There’s drag queens and then there’s bands that you wouldn’t even necessarily know are queer, or don’t have a queer agenda or anything, but they just are.”

“Have you ever seen a hairy bagel?” L.A. comedian Brad Loekle entertains a crowd on the main stage between musical performances. Photo by Alex Vickery

Though it had its share of challenges, Hornsby hopes the first Stargayzer Festival will create a foundation for the event to happen again next year.

“There’s a lot of groups to juggle and shuffle, but they’ve all been patient and really excited to be a part of something like this,” he said. “We want to make this happen. And whatever happens, happens.”

The Austin skyline frames the main stage at Stargayzer Festival at Pine Street Station.

Photo by Alex Vickery

TC Hennes, lead singer of NYC band Avan Lava, performs on Sunday afternoon.

Photo by Alex Vickery

Drag queens add a splash of color to the otherwise muddy festival grounds.

Photo by Alex Vickery

A festival performer eats lunch near the indoor stage.

Photo by Alex Vickery

Colorful graffiti covers the venue walls.

Photo by Alex Vickery

Mirror Travel vocalist Lauren Green performs in her hometown.

Photo by Alex Vickery

London fashion designer and club owner Lyall Hakaraia has a drink with drag performer Mitzi Meyers.

Photo by Alex Vickery

Brian Connolly and Michael Anthony Gonzales relax and converse on a couch at Pine Street Station.

Photo by Alex Vickery

Khatti Q shares a moment with a golden baby during her set with Fantasy.

Photo by Alex Vickery

A couple in the crowd enjoys a performance at Stargayzer Festival.

Photo by Alex Vickery

Art installations like this mannequin head are set up around the festival grounds.

In the middle of West Campus’s labyrinth of high-rise apartment complexes and just weeks before Austin’s massive South By Southwest Conference, students and young locals gathered for the fifth West By West Campus festival. Showcasing filmmakers and artists, the block party with a do-it-yourself attitude was hosted by cooperative housing groups on Feb. 21-22.

Started in February of 2010, the festival began as a way for underaged bands and concertgoers to celebrate with their own all-ages free shows according to director Tessa Hunt. Now in it’s final year, West By West Campus has grown to include a film festival portion where eight short films submission are chosen and then judged by a panel on day one of the festival.

The heart of the festival, however, remains to be its second day music portion, where 36 bands played at co-ops, starting at noon and ending at 10:30 p.m. Cooperative housing French House, 21st Street Co-op and Pearl Street Co-op were the three venues hosting musical talent including Super Thief, Magna Carda and the Numerators. The vibrant, bohemian interiors of the co-ops, along with do-it-yourself zine-style posters served as an apt backdrop to West By West Campus’s engaged yet cool crowd.

dudeman

French House

frnch

Red Blue One Two

#yoloswag

Casual Interference

street performer, Nnendi

TransContinental Trip

volunteers, Haley and Cally

21st St. Co-op

Hikes

French House

Mighty Mountain

From looking at the abundant amount of people enjoying live music at the festival, it would be impossible to tell that lack of funds almost kept West By West Campus from happening this year. Usually paid for out-of-pocket by founders of the event, the cost of hosting along with permits and port-a-potties, became a problem that needed to be solved. Jennifer Gritti, social media/donations/strategy manager for West By West Campus, saw a solution in starting a “kickstarter.”

“We decided to fund the event through kickstarter so we didn’t have to deal with corporate sponsors,” Gritti said. “Not only did corp. sponsors kills the vibe of the fest last year, they were a bit difficult to work with and didn’t quite share our same vision. As our last hurrah, we wanted to take it to the people, and if they wanted to help, we would give them that option.”

Gritti used Kickstarter, a website that helps raise funds for independently-run projects by many, small donations, to raise the baseline of $3,000 needed to run the West Campus festival.

“Admittedly, we’ve never asked for your help in the past, but this year we’re going to need it,” Gritti posted on the West By West Campus Kickstarter page. The page was able to bring in $3,140 from 168 backers, 109 of which pledged only $5-10. Although the page was set up in the middle of January, the $3,000 goal was not reached until just 15 hours before the cutoff date of Feb. 7. The event also received monetary donations outside of Kickstarter from small local businesses such as Bodega and keg donations from Circle Brewery.

Gritti guessed approximately 1,500 people attended the event throughout the day.

“The turnout this year was great,” Gritti said. “We don’t have any numbers, but the people that wanted to be there were there and thats what really mattered.”

Though the funding for this year’s West By West Campus was reached fairly easily, the founders of the festival do not want it to stray too far from its roots and have still decided that this is its final year. Gritti and Hunt cite preserving the integrity of the festival as the reason founders of the fest have decided to end West By West Campus in its fifth year — they want to see other young adults starting their own festivals and they hope the spirit of West By West Campus can inspire.

By Rachel Marino, Monica Zhang, Caroline Manning, Rachel Perlmutter

This year marked the 20th anniversary of Austin radio station 93.3 KGSR’s Unplugged concert series at The Grove on Barton Springs Rd. KGSR Unplugged is one of Austin’s longest running free concert series. The event began in April and comes to a close September 26.

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KGSR Unplugged is one of many in Austin’s permeating music scene. The official city slogan is “The Live Music Capital of the World,” which makes sense because a vast array of concerts and music festivals goes on in Austin year round. Musicians play almost everywhere from grocery stores – Central Market and Whole Foods – to city council meetings. Every summer, there are free concerts at Zilker Park during the Blues on the Green series.

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Austin Music Timeline

Then there are the music festivals. People travel from all over the country for Austin City Limits in the fall and South by Southwest in the spring. The Austin City Limits music festival was inspired by Austin City Limits, the longest running live music program on television, which still runs on PBS today. There are smaller festivals as well, such as Fun, Fun, Fun Fest, Pachanga Latino Music Festival, Chaos in Tejas and Urban Music Festival to name only a few.

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Still, year round you can find Austin musicians at coffeehouses, bars, clubs, and most anywhere else. With more than 250 live music venues in the city, there are almost always a few concerts going on in Austin on any given day.

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